Newbie: Grading Question 1 1

[716to509to562]

How do you know when to get a coin graded? Do I have any coins worth being graded?

1864 Indian Cent
1951 1c "Liberty" seems too close to the edge
1958 1c "Liberty" seems too close to the edge
1953 S 1c "S too close to large 1953" and "Liberty" seems too close to the edge
1972 D Eisenhower
1972 D Half Dollar JFK
1973 D Half Dollar JFK
1971 D Half Dollar JFK
1967 No Mint Mark Half Dollar JFK
1972 D Half Dollar JFK
1972 D Half Dollar JFK
1971 D Half Dollar JFK
1983 P Half Dollar JFK

[JKK]

No, none are.

To 509? From Spokane or Tri-Cities or Crackima?

[powermad5000]

Hello and welcome to the forum!

You know when to get a coin graded because you want to spend a lot of money to put an expensive coin into a plastic holder.

All coins are worth being graded by YOU with your own assessment of grade.

To address your list, the short answer is you have no coins worthy of being submitted to a TPG for grading.

The long answer is if your 1864 Indian Head Cent has an L on the ribbon, it would be worthy of submitting. With Liberty being "too close to the edge" as you state, what does that tell you exactly? It should tell you that nothing is out of the ordinary with those Lincoln Wheat Cents. Your Eisenhower Dollar would need to be either silver (struck at the San Francisco Mint) or it would have to be in literally perfect shape to be worth submitting. Your 1967 no mint mark Kennedy Half is normal because no 1967 Kennedy Half has a mint mark on it. As for all the Kennedy halves you have listed, they would all need to be checked for variety attribution would need to be done with the coin in hand by a knowledgeable dealer (or by single coin per post on this forum) as follows :

1967 for DDO or DDR ---- 1971 D for DDO or No FG ---- 1972 D for No FG ---- 1973 D for DDO or No FG ---- 1983 P for No FG

Even if some of these are of the variety, not all of them would gain significant premium unless once again they are in choice to gem state.

 

I would say you would be better off instead of thinking about submitting coins to a TPG, your money would be better invested in at least two books. One, the Red Book of United States Coins, 2025. The second, a book titled ANA Grading Standards for United States Coins, 7th Edition. You should get better at identifying coins and varieties and being able to self assess coins for grade. Then using the prices in the Red Book, gauging whether or not a coin is worthy of submitting to a TPG. Using your list here, to send all of these in, it would cost you a $125 membership fee, $40-$50 to ship the coins to the TPG, $10 processing fee, $19 per coin modern tier fee X 9 coins for a total of $171, $23 per coin economy tier X 4 coins for a total of $92, Variety Plus fee of $18 per coin X 9 coins non refundable if no variety is found for a total of $162, and return shipping to you between $36-$45. The grand total of your membership and submission would roughly come out to $650. This is why learning self grading and variety attribution is so important before you even think of sending coins to a TPG. 

[716to509to562]

On 6/21/2024 at 10:38 PM, powermad5000 said:

Hello and welcome to the forum!

You know when to get a coin graded because you want to spend a lot of money to put an expensive coin into a plastic holder.

All coins are worth being graded by YOU with your own assessment of grade.

To address your list, the short answer is you have no coins worthy of being submitted to a TPG for grading.

The long answer is if your 1864 Indian Head Cent has an L on the ribbon, it would be worthy of submitting. With Liberty being "too close to the edge" as you state, what does that tell you exactly? It should tell you that nothing is out of the ordinary with those Lincoln Wheat Cents. Your Eisenhower Dollar would need to be either silver (struck at the San Francisco Mint) or it would have to be in literally perfect shape to be worth submitting. Your 1967 no mint mark Kennedy Half is normal because no 1967 Kennedy Half has a mint mark on it. As for all the Kennedy halves you have listed, they would all need to be checked for variety attribution would need to be done with the coin in hand by a knowledgeable dealer (or by single coin per post on this forum) as follows :

1967 for DDO or DDR ---- 1971 D for DDO or No FG ---- 1972 D for No FG ---- 1973 D for DDO or No FG ----

 

Even if some of these are of the variety, not all of them would gain significant premium unless once again they are in choice to gem state.

 

I would say you would be better off instead of thinking about submitting coins to a TPG, your money would be better invested in at least two books. One, the Red Book of United States Coins, 2025. The second, a book titled ANA Grading Standards for United States Coins, 7th Edition. You should get better at identifying coins and varieties and being able to self assess coins for grade. Then using the prices in the Red Book, gauging whether or not a coin is worthy of submitting to a TPG. Using your list here, to send all of these in, it would cost you a $125 membership fee, $40-$50 to ship the coins to the TPG, $10 processing fee, $19 per coin modern tier fee X 9 coins for a total of $171, $23 per coin economy tier X 4 coins for a total of $92, Variety Plus fee of $18 per coin X 9 coins non refundable if no variety is found for a total of $162, and return shipping to you between $36-$45. The grand total of your membership and submission would roughly come out to $650. This is why learning self grading and variety attribution is so important before you even think of sending coins to a TPG. 

great stuff! thank you. Unfortunately none of the coins are near 70

On the 1864 indian head, I don't see the L on the ribbon

[Henri Charriere]

On 6/22/2024 at 1:51 AM, 716to509to562 said:

great stuff! thank you. Unfortunately none of the coins are near 70

On the 1864 indian head, I don't see the L on the ribbon

A cringe-worthy post if ever there was one.

If any of the coins were "near 70," they're not now. No one would ever allow a 70 to be in close proximity to other coins.

Did you know there was an "L" on the 1864 IHC, or now, having been apprised of its existence, went and took a look?  Do you know where on the ribbon to look?... or that it is positioned at a 90-degree rotation as seen by the viewer? Do you know what the letter stands for?

"Now go home and get your shinebox!" 🤣    Joke aside, now go and get yourself the indispensable tools you will need in this hobby, going forward, as set forth in the previous post.

And good luck!  I can see it's going to be a long, hot summer...

 

 

Edited Saturday at 12:59 PM by Henri Charriere
Die polishing.

[Sandon]

    @powermad5000 has provided you with much of what you need to know. I'll just emphasize a few of his points and make a few of my own.

    Before you even think about submitting a coin to a third-party grading service, which is what I assume you meant by "get[ting] a coin graded", you must learn to grade and otherwise evaluate coins yourself, and you must have so determined that the coin has a market value of at least several hundred dollars. Coin collecting goes back several thousand years, as long as coins themselves, but third-party grading services that encapsulate coins only began in 1986, when PCGS opened for business, followed in 1987 by NGC. Most coins can be collected in albums and other appropriate holders and don't need to be placed in bulky, heavy grading service holders to be appreciated and preserved. None of the coins in your image is remotely of sufficient value to submit to a grading service.

   The "Red Book"--A Guide Book of United States Coins--referred to by Powermad is an essential basic guide to U.S. coins. If you had one, you would learn, for example, that there are three major varieties of 1864 Indian cents, one in copper nickel composition like the cents of 1857-63, which yours clearly isn't based on its color and thinness, and two in bronze, one with the design of the previous years with a rounded bust tip and a scarcer one with a newer design with a pointed bust tip and a tiny "L" (initial of mint engraver James B. Longacre) on the ribbon and the back of the "Indian's" (actually Liberty wearing a feathered headdress's) head. (The "L" also appears on all subsequent dates in the series.) Yours looks like it has the pointed bust but only grades "Good", in which grade--assuming the "L" is visible--it would have a retail value of $45 per Coin World, another important resource, a nice find for a new or "budget" collector but not worth submitting. FYI, this image of the obverse of an 1864 with "L" cent in much higher (AU 58) grade, with a value over $400 and worth submitting, shows the location of the "L":

 This coin was struck from a die on which the numbers "1" and "8" were strongly repunched, adding to its collector interest and value. This is known as a "die variety."

  The following forum topic identifies print and online resources that will be helpful to you in learning about U.S. coins:

   Your education should also include attendance at such venues coin shows and coin club meetings, where you can examine a variety of coins and speak with knowledgeable collectors and dealers.

   You also asked whether viewers had any coins worthy of submission. I have a number of certified coins, most of which I purchased in their current holders but some of which I had purchased uncertified decades ago and submitted myself. You can see some of the better ones in the following NGC Registry set: Set Details | NGC Registry | NGC (ngccoin.com).

   

[716to509to562]

On 6/22/2024 at 5:58 AM, Henri Charriere said:

A cringe-worthy post if ever there was one.

If any of the coins were "near 70," they're not now. No one would ever allow a 70 to be in close proximity to other coins.

Did you know there was an "L" on the 1864 IHC, or now, having been apprised of its existence, went and took a look?  Do you know where on the ribbon to look?... or that it is positioned at a 90-degree rotation as seen by the viewer? Do you know what the letter stands for?

"Now go home and get your shinebox!" 🤣    Joke aside, now go and get yourself the indispensable tools you will need in this hobby, going forward, as set forth in the previous post.

And good luck!  I can see it's going to be a long, hot summer...

 

 

You must be a lot of fun at parties. Most of the coins in my collection came from Halloween handouts, the soda shop, street finds, or trades. Remember when people used to stick baseball cards in their bike spokes? Coin collecting feels a lot like horse racing—newcomers try to learn the ropes, only to encounter seasoned experts with sharp criticisms. Fast forward to 2024, and people are puzzled over why horse racing is losing popularity. It's like high school all over again. My bad for posting.

[J P M]

Welcome 716to509562 . Do not despair, I have a collection of coins just like yours that I have had for over 50 years and I still like it just becouse.  yes sometimes the members forget what it is like to begin a new journey.   

[GoldFinger1969]

Any interest in going "upscale".....silver or gold coins ? 

[VKurtB]

On 6/22/2024 at 9:37 AM, 716to509to562 said:

You must be a lot of fun at parties. Most of the coins in my collection came from Halloween handouts, the soda shop, street finds, or trades. Remember when people used to stick baseball cards in their bike spokes? Coin collecting feels a lot like horse racing—newcomers try to learn the ropes, only to encounter seasoned experts with sharp criticisms. Fast forward to 2024, and people are puzzled over why horse racing is losing popularity. It's like high school all over again. My bad for posting.

Seriously, you really do need a thicker skin in this field. Sarcasm and smart-alecky is the most benign thing you'll find here. The ones you need to watch out for are the ones blatantly trying to rip you off.

[VKurtB]

On 6/22/2024 at 9:37 AM, 716to509to562 said:

Fast forward to 2024, and people are puzzled over why horse racing is losing popularity.

Is it? Is it really? I hadn't noticed. I hang on every minute of the coverage of the Triple Crown races and the Breeders' Cup, just like always. PLEASE UNDERSTAND THIS: numismatics always has been, and probably always WILL BE, a contest between the knowledgeable and the less so, in which those with more knowledge brutally abuse those with less knowledge. Maybe you can deal with a world like that, and maybe not But that's what it is. Coins has NEVER UP UNTIL NOW been warm n' fuzzy, touchy feely, Kum Bay Yah. It's brutish and ugly, by and large.

Edited Monday at 12:26 AM by VKurtB

[powermad5000]

On 6/23/2024 at 7:22 PM, VKurtB said:

Coins has NEVER UP UNTIL NOW been warm n' fuzzy, touchy feely, Kum Bay Yah. It's brutish and ugly, by and large.

Just like taking that Morgan you just bought for $125 already graded MS 63 by NGC or PCGS to dealer at another table at the same show and want to sell it while watching the Greysheet come out and you get an offer of $50 for it.

NOTE : This was not me doing something like this as I don't try to "flip" coins. Was just stating a hypothetical.

Edited Monday at 04:21 AM by powermad5000